


Weightless

by Hino



Category: Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Gen, I get to make one angst fic and that's IT, Not at all canon compliant but fuck it, Takes place in Xen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hino/pseuds/Hino
Summary: The gravity in Xen is lower than Earth, which is why the moment stretches forever.His foot slips and the world starts to tilt, and as the empty void of Xen stretches underneath him, Gordon tries to burn the Science Team into his eyes before he falls.But the moment cannot hold forever. It must break.He must fall.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 235





	Weightless

The gravity in Xen is lower than Earth, which is why the moment stretches forever.

Gordon can't pin down the moment it happened. The adrenaline of being on an alien planet, fighting weird creatures that are trying to kill him clogs up his memories like a thick mist. All he knows is that he's running around, arm trained on the beings that are terrorizing himself and the rest of the Science Team, and the next moment he's tilting backwards as his foot slips and sends him off the edge of the floating world.

Time slows to a crawl, and Gordon knows it's a psychological result as opposed to Xen's strange laws of physics. He can see the way the Science Team look at him, eyes wide and jaws slack. Tommy looks like he's beginning to break into a sprint, body shifting forward as his foot moves, toes bending to push him forward.

Coomer is reaching out for him, the extendo-arms refusing to activate. They take time to recharge, and Bubby had a close call just minutes ago when the Gonarch knocked him off the edge of Xen. Still, he's forcing them, a few sparks flying out from the gears at the effort being expended.

And Bubby is-  
It almost makes Gordon laugh. Bubby is faster than Tommy at times and it shows. He's already leaping forward, hand outstretched as if it can close the gap between them. There's worry on his face that is so rarely there that Gordon worries he's done something especially wrong.

Gordon looks at the three of them as the world tilts backwards, craning his head forwards in order to burn them into his eyes, make them the last thing he sees. After everything they've done together, Gordon doesn't want to forget them.

But time cannot stay frozen forever. The moment shatters and Gordon watches reality kick in as Tommy sprints and Bubby hits the edge of the island, hand just missing Gordon's own as the man tumbles into the endless abyss below.

The island fades out of sight fast, soon nothing more than a speck in the purple void that is Xen itself. Gordon wonders when he will die, considering there's nothing to make an impact with. 

His eyes burn with tears and they're ripped away into the atmosphere as he plummets towards nothingness. His heart is racing and he can't find the air to scream, although he's not sure if he even would.

God, what will the Science Team do? Will they keep going, or will his loss make them pause?

Gordon laughs softly. It's self-centered of him to think they'd stop for him when he never stopped for Bubby or Coomer or Tommy when they vanished.

The laughter is swallowed up by the nothing around him, and it serves to remind Gordon of his current predicament. There's no islands or debris around him so he closes his eyes and tries to make peace with the way his stomach turns and his mind screams at the unending plummet.

And when he feels himself losing feeling in his limbs and he can't open his eyes anymore, Gordon can't find the energy to be concerned.

There is a commotion on the island and Benry can hear it. Screams and worried words and what sounds like a fight birthed from fear and anger.

He looms over them, gripping mountains for support as he peers down at them. They are arguing, Tommy gripping Bubby by the collar and screaming words at him, crying that he could have saved Gordon, that he should have. Bubby merely lets Tommy yell, limp in the gangly man's surprisingly strong grip. Coomer is merely staring at his hands, flexing them experimentally while his shoulder joints whir and click with stress.

It takes a moment for Benry to piece it all together, to understand what 'save' means in this context, and that Gordon isn't anywhere on the island they are occupying. It makes his eldritch heart falter for a split second, but that's all it takes for a decision to be made; a decision the Skeletons all agree with, if only for their own selfish reasons.

Benry pulls away from the mountain and nobody notices the debris he knocks loose.

Xen is a wide space, but Benry is a creature that knows the realm intimately. The fabric of reality means nothing to him, and so it is with little effort that he finds Gordon Freeman plummeting through nothing.

There is a moment of nothing where Benry enters the void that makes up everything, and then he manifests, entering a place of _something_ as he reappears in Xen. His hands are cupped and Gordon Freeman's body tumbles into them, his velocity reduced to zero all at once without the unfortunate side effect impact tends to result in.

Gordon is small in his hands, and as Benry brings him close to inspect and make sure the human is still alive, he sees how pale Gordon's skin is, and how the tiny blinking light on the HEV suit that displays the vitals seems to be flashing faster than it has a right to.

It worries Benry. The Science Team will know how to fix it though, that's something he knows. After all, the Science Team has fixed every problem Gordon has encountered; If he is sick after falling through the empty space then they'll be able to help him.

With that thought in mind, Benry considers where he is in relation to the Science Team. Gordon has fallen far, doomed to be lost to the nothingness until he starved to death, which means it will take time to get back to solid ground.

He can't enter the voidspace with Gordon though. It's a place reserved for entities that do not fit mortal constraints, and bringing Gordon in there will surely kill him.

So they have to go back the long way. 

Benry sighs, but he does not complain. Gordon is readjusted in his grip, fingers softly curled over him to keep him in place. His other hand cups around him to keep away the windburn. There is no breeze in Xen, but there is an atmosphere, and Benry's motions create displacement. With his lip between his teeth, Benry buries his concerns and focuses on the island he has to find.

And then he moves.

Xen is wide and deep, and only a tiny fraction of it is occupied with land. It makes their travel long and uneventful as Benry focuses on a tiny blip thousands of miles away. He keeps glancing back to Gordon to check his condition, and the lights on his suit blink away at critical levels while his body barely moves, breath barely felt against the pad of Benry's thumb.

The Skeletons tell him to hurry. Gordon's death must be at the appointed time and not sooner. Benry agrees with them, but if only so they are quiet. He has grown attached to Gordon and the Science Team, and the betrayal, and the battle that is yet to come, weighs on him. Still, there are roles that must be played, and Benry does not run from what the future ordains.

There are no predetermined deaths, after all. There is a chance they may all escape in one piece.

But no predetermined deaths means that Gordon is able to die here and now, and that is what scares Benry. He cannot close the space any faster than he is right now and death is a specter he does not understand. He cannot reason with it or scare it away. All Benry can do is run and hope his pace carries Gordon out of its reach.

First comes the general debris that is common on the outskirts of the Xen islands. They are unexpected, and a small rock hits Benry's helmet as he forces himself forwards with an effort he rarely expends. It's a welcome sound and as he continues towards the slowly growing island, more stones clank against him, soon joined by other pieces of space debris that clatter on his armour and leave superficial cuts on his skin. 

His hand curls slightly more around Gordon to protect him from it all. Still the man has not moved, not since he was caught, and it's starting to become a genuine concern. Even the Skeletons are unsure what to do.

Rocks turn to boulders and tiny islands that can barely hold a headcrab begin to appear. Slowly they change into landforms that can support a Vortigaunt, then a Gonarch, and then several Vortigaunts. It signals that Benry is close to the main island which now has detail like dips and rises.

Gordon is deathly still in his hand and the lights on his suit have died out, power exhausted. It leaves him with no point of reference and that in turn spurns him on faster, using a few stray islands as launching points in some attempt to close the gap between himself and the main Xen landmass faster.

As he closes the gap, he can see the outlines of Tommy, Coomer, and Bubby. They're still in that open space, grieving in their own ways. It's difficult to watch, and considering the lack of noise in this part of the dimension, Benry can hear their words faintly echo, tinged with sadness and rage and fear.

But he cannot hand Gordon back to them directly. That would lessen his role as a Villain. Instead, he needs to find another way to do that. A way that may leave implications of his action, but without a direct cause.

The Skeletons have the answer. There is a small tunnel near the Science Team, and at the end is a cave filled with soft lichen. It has a hole in the roof which Gordon can be placed, considering he cannot intersect with the geometry of reality.

Benry brightens at it, heart skipping a beat for far more pleasant reasons than before. His eyes scan for the ivory comrades and they guide him carefully away from the gazes of the Science Team, leading him to the hole in the ceiling of the cave.

Entering is only slightly awkward. Benry eases the hand cradling Gordon through the cave's entrance, and then lets the rest of himself clip and merge with the surroundings. It doesn't bother him in the slightest, and it permits him to focus his attention on Gordon as he lays him down gently on the lichen bed, fingers working with a grace and delicateness that is uncharacteristic. 

Gordon is posed as if he is sleeping, hand under his head and minigun resting against his chest. Legs comfortably curled close, he looks as if he's laid himself down for a nap. It's soothing, if not for the paleness of his skin suggesting something more sinister.

Now comes the task of drawing the Science Team's attention. There can be no Sweet Voice, no Skeletons, no Benry. There can only be the action of something that is unrelated to all of them.

The Skeletons think together as the hivemind while Benry too lets himself stew. His gaze lingers on Gordon, knowing this may be the last time he sees the human at all, if the Science Team doesn't bring him to their final encounter.

Benry's eyes see the minigun and the gears slowly spin. He has a gun from his time as a security guard. It is tiny and unuseable for him but perhaps-

He voices his plan and the Skeletons agree. Large fingers offer the tiny weapon and a Skeleton takes it, bony hands grasping the weapon as it aims at the floor, preparing itself.

With a last glance at Gordon, Benry prepares himself too.

There is a gunshot in Xen that echoes. It silences Tommy's angry words and Bubby's regrets and Coomer's whirring gears.

Slowly, they gather themselves, eyes misty and faces red. There are looks offered between them and then finally, they enter the tunnel. It is gloomy with a few strange plants on the walls and growing in cracks, but that doesn't get their attention.

No. It's the fact that only a few steps in, they can see something at the end. Something orange and bulky and still, something with the mass of a human and the silhouette of a friend they had watched fall without a sound and thought to die the second he was out of sight.

He is still and unmoving, but as the Science Team speed up their collective walk, the shape becomes sharper with defined edges and corners. Limbs manifest from a form and Bubby is the first one to say the name as he sprints forward with a desperation he didn't show in Black Mesa. Coomer is on his heels and then Tommy follows, hand outstretched much like Bubby's had been before.

Bubby skins his knees as drops into a slide, grabbing Gordon's shoulder and turning him onto his back. He can feel them bleeding beneath his uniform but it's nothing compared to the thoughts whirring through his mind. Tommy scrambles to check Gordon's pulse while Coomer looks at the HEV suit's battery.

They make a quick discovery. Gordon is barely alive, and the suit's life-saving properties have switched off along with the power.

They make an even quicker reaction. Coomer plugs a cable from his arms into Gordon's suit to siphon power into it. Tommy begins CPR, strong enough to dent the HEV suit with each push as he tries to jumpstart Gordon's heart and breathe life into him. Bubby dives into his pockets and finds the medicine he needs, injecting it into Gordon's bloodstream to try and give him the last hurrah that might get him out of danger and into the realm of the living.

Xen is silent as they work. The cave is filled only with the sound of the HEV suit charging and the crumple of metal as Tommy tries to get Gordon stable. The three of them watch anxiously, all doing what little they can, which is nowhere enough in their eyes.

But then the HEV suit speaks. It chirps in that monotone voice that it is dispensing Morphine and is stabilizing the user. Tommy's hands stop and the Science Team watch as Gordon's skin slowly gains colour again, a silence among them that is only broken when Gordon wakes suddenly and begins to cough like he's hacking up a lung.

And it becomes an uproar as voices all clamor to talk to Gordon. They ask if he's okay, if he's hurt, and as Gordon sits up and gets air back into his lungs, the men around him weep and cry for the fear that Gordon was truly gone. 

It stuns Gordon, but as his brain pieces things together, he understands. His glasses fog and his vision blurs as he weeps alongside them, pulling all three of his comrades as close as he can to ground himself and comfort them. Their cries become a chorus with varying pitches, wailing as they cling to each other and try to calm their racing hearts.

Deep underneath the lichen bed, intersecting with rock and bone, Benry weeps in relief.


End file.
